The air hung heavy in her nostrils as she breathed, thick with the smell of rain. Valve looked to the greying late afternoon clouds, pink with fading light around their uneven edges, and she wondered if the storm would linger for long enough to dampen the sands beneath her. It was not unusual for an occasional late-day thunderstorm in the dunes during the summer, and the black mare always welcomed such weather. A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance and she turned her nose to gaze in that direction.

She could see a fair distance from atop her favorite vantage point, here, where the dunes were the tallest. As the territory stretched westward, the mounds of sand grew less and less steep until the flatness of the desert reigned. Valve shifted her stance, casually tipping a hind hoof up on her toe and wondered how long it had been she paid her neighbor a visit.

Probably not long enough. Salem had been relatively quiet since El Aran’s death, and that was mostly good. Killing her had been satisfying enough that the memory fluttered across her mind sometimes, but there was another part of her that wished she was still around so that Valve could punish her again and again. She snorted, perishing the thought and reminding herself to enjoy the peaceful lull while it lasted.

Large, purple-grey clouds floated ominously and another low rumble reached her ears. Yes, there would be a storm here very soon.

VALVE
slenderman x black heart machine